Tag Archives: Aaron Levin

Cousins is an excellent two-piece band from Halifax, Nova Scotia featuring Leigh Dotey and Aaron Mangle. They make an impassioned, fun kind of indie-rock and their latest album, The Halls of Wickwire, is rad and out now via Hand Drawn Dracula Records. A few weeks ago at the Halifax Pop Explosion, Aaron took me for a drive and chat while he was running errands. Here, Aaron and I discuss running stopping signs and narrowly missing a limo, Aaron’s 1985 Mercedes Benz station wagon, in the Maritimes the pedestrian is the king of the road, Athens Restaurant, fancy car vacuum, stopping by a Halifax liquor store, Aaron’s house show featuring Joyful Talk, Jon Mckiel, and Freelove Fenner, Boxing Rock Beer from Shelburne Nova Scotia, house comedy shows, Wolfville Nova Scotia, King’s College, 19+ or 30+, security, no hoods, Back to the Future, Reduce Reuse Recycle Responsible, Jay Crocker’s car, the bands Bad Vibrations and Husband and Knife, down at the Khyber, Charles Austin’s Ultramagnetic Studio, there’s Cold Specks, Sarah Mangle, Aaron is a letter carrier for Canada Post, weird mail, oh I meant weed mail, the new Khyber, asbestos, city ruses, meeting people, Aaron Levin from Weird Canada, some background about Cousins and their new album The Halls of Wickwire, Aaron’s late, beloved grandmother and her influence on Cousins, Leigh from Cousins, Ben from PS I Love You, psychic grandmother and the game of Scat, Nicole from Aux and two North of America records, the song “Body,” a murder mystery, specific writing, Cousins is taking a break, yelling at Paul from PS I Love You, the song “Death Man,” and then we were alone.

Claire Cameron is an acclaimed writer from Toronto whose first novel, The Line Painter, won the Northern Lit Award from the Ontario Library Service and was nominated for an Arthur Ellis Crime Writing Award for ‘best first novel.’ Her latest book is a harrowingly devastating one called The Bear, which is told from the perspective of a six year-old girl named Anna who must take care of her younger brother in the wilds of Algonquin Park after a horrible, incomprehensible tragedy strikes her family’s camping trip. The Bear is available now via Random House of Canada and Cameron is a participating author at the Eden Mills Writers’ Festival, where she’ll read on Sunday September 14. Here Claire and I discuss Toronto the cold and the hot and people in the city who complain, what inspired The Bear, how no one knows why bears attack, making other parents cry and laugh, reading and writing a six year-old’s perspective, how kids can stay in the moment, researching what kids say and think, how we understand death, how Stick might be comic relief, when Anna was a boy, coping with grief, Claire’s role in the story of The Bear, seeing things from her late father’s perspective, bears in society, demystifying bear attacks, Jaws and The Bear, the inspirational and tragic attack at Algonquin Park and basically living with black bears in Hearst, Ontario, Steven Herrero’s research on patterns and prevention of bear attacks, mothers with cubs might not be as dangerous lone, hungry males, collecting bear stories, don’t be a chicken turn musician, trying to teach one’s self to make hard-edged electronic music, how The Line Painter was inspired by a song Cameron wrote, loving Neil Young’s quiet/loud dynamic and seeing him in London, England, the Greendale tour, how Claire is working on at least three ‘dead books’ and at least one ‘live one,’ how people weirdly classify Claire’s writing in crime and horror categories, The Road by Cormac McCarthy, reading at the Eden Mills Writers’ Festival, and that’s all we could bear.

Afie Jurvanen is a gifted musician and songwriter who works under the tropical moniker Bahamas. Jurvanen has been an in-demand guitarist who has worked with Feist, the Weather Station, and Zeus among others. He has released three records of his signature folk-tinged rock over the past five years, earning a broad fanbase and award nominations and critical acclaim along the way. His latest album is called Bahamas is Afie, which is out now via Universal Music Canada, and it’s prompted him to tour across the U.S. and Canada over the coming months including a stop at Riverfest Elora on Friday August 22. Here, Afie and I discuss wearing shorts on stage (S.O.S.), Thrush Hermit rules and Joel Plaskett’s legs, the assertively explanatory title of his new album, the lush production of Bahamas is Afie, Don Kerr and the Rooster, distinctive musical chameleons like Bob Dylan, David Bowie, and Beck, that moment where you think of an idea, hope in sad songs, Willie Nelson, wanting to name your hypothetical unborn child Owen, choosing music over sports, social hobbies, going your own way when pushed by your parents, moving to Toronto from Barrie and making friends in a music community, grade 13/OAC, the Miami Heat, Chris Bosh, Fantastic Pop festival in Windsor, Afie’s early band Paso Mino with members of Zeus, Jason Collett, competition and ambition in music, contemporary cultural consumption and metrics, how artists are adapting to the new face of the music business, we are the product, Peter Elkas is under-appreciated, the Aretha Franklin chugging Diet Coke in a golf cart before kicking ass at the Grammys story, playing in a rainstorm at a festival in PEI, the pros and cons of making and promoting music, opening up a laundromat, how to do your laundry, Michael P. Clive’s cooking show and Afie’s unreleased instrumental music for it, making the Weather Station’s new album in France, being added to Riverfest Elora at the last minute, Jason Tait of the Weakerthans, the song “Waves,” and then the heat is off.